Washington (CNN) - Newt Gingrich holds a 15 point advantage over Mitt Romney in the race for the GOP presidential nomination, according to a new national survey of registered Republicans.

Thirty-seven percent questioned in Gallup's inaugural daily tracking poll this cycle say they are likely to support the former House speaker for the GOP nomination, with 22% backing the former Massachusetts governor, who's making his second bid for the White House.FULL POST

(CNN) - More than a century after Teddy Roosevelt's famous "New Nationalism" speech, President Barack Obama sounded similar themes Tuesday in the same town in the Republican heartland of Kansas, delivering a populist speech that called for extending the payroll tax cut set to expire at the end of the year.

Obama described stark differences between a Republican ideology he described as leaving people to fend for themselves and his vision of government helping provide equal opportunity for all Americans regardless of where they begin in life.

(CNN) - President Barack Obama said Tuesday he would veto any effort by congressional Republicans to "delay, defund or dismantle" a new consumer protection panel by blocking the confirmation of the nominated director, Richard Cordray.

"The Republicans in the Senate refuse to let him do his job," Obama said of Cordray, a former Ohio attorney general. "Why? Does anyone here think the problem that led to our financial crisis was too much oversight of mortgage lenders or debt collectors? Of course not."FULL POST

(CNN) - Former Utah. Gov. Jon Huntsman, known for having the most moderate view on climate change in GOP presidential field, suggested Tuesday the verdict was still out on mankind's role in the situation.

"Because there are questions about the validity of the science...I think the onus is on the scientific community to provide more, to help clarify the situation," Huntsman said at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - Senate Republicans voted Tuesday to filibuster President Barack Obama's nominee to fill a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, because they complained she is too liberal and would be an activist on the bench.

The largely party-line vote was 54 to 45, falling shy of the required 60-vote threshold to end the cloture stalemate and allow a final vote on the nomination itself.

(CNN) - President Barack Obama said Tuesday that Congress needs to "immediately" extend a payroll tax cut set to expire at the end of the year.

"If we don't do that, 160 million Americans, including most of the people here, will see their taxes go up by an average of $1,000 starting in January, and it would badly weaken our recovery," Obama said in a speech that pushed for passage of provisions in his jobs package.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - Pop superstar Lady Gaga is taking her mission to end bullying to the White House. Gaga met Tuesday with members of the White House Office of Public Engagement about the issue, according to an administration official.

(CNN) - President Barack Obama said Tuesday that economic inequality in America is at "a level we haven't seen since the Great Depression" and "hurts us all."

"When middle-class families can no longer afford to buy the goods and services that businesses are selling, it drags down the entire economy, from top to bottom," Obama said in a speech pushing for Congress to approve provisions of his jobs package.FULL POST

(CNN) - Watching Republican presidential front-runner Newt Gingrich in action brings back lots of memories. I’ve been covering him for a long time. I’ve seen his ups and his downs.

While preparing for my interview tomorrow with the former House speaker in Washington, I reviewed an early interview I had with the then new Speaker on June 10, 1995. I was then CNN’s Senior White House Correspondent and was also anchoring “Inside Politics Weekend.” (Our tag line: “The events, the issues, the battles, the bites.”)